The Best Books of 2024
PopMatters Best Books of 2024 include a broad range of nonfiction, many books on music, short fiction, a novel that turns a Mark Twain classic inside out, and much more.
biography
Arthur Russell’s Underground Genius
Arthur Russell biography Travels Over Feeling is an elegy for a generation of underground artists that died too soon and a requiem for a vanished New York.
‘Louder Than You Think’: The Improbable Origins of Pavement
Louder Than You Think documents the early origins of indie rock’s Pavement through the cracked life and times of the band’s first drummer, Gary Young.
Bruce Springsteen Documentary ‘Road Diary’ Takes a Familiar Route
Bruce Springsteen documentary Road Diary: Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band gets you there by taking a familiar yet still enjoyable route.
Graeme Thomson’s Revised ‘Under the Ivy’ Captures Kate Bush’s Complexity
While Kate Bush’s work and life defy clichés and easy categorization, Graeme Thomson chronicles her story while conveying its inherent ambiguity and mystery.
Venice Film Festival in Focus: ‘Queer’, ‘Joker: Folie a Deux’, ‘2073’
In the vein of socially relevant topics at Venice Film Festival 2024, Queer, Joker: Folie a Deux, and 2073 got the island of Lido talking for different reasons.
‘The Beach Boys’ Documentary Brings the Sun and Surf to the New Kids
The Beach Boys documentary appeals to Gen Z and Gen Alpha via Disney Plus with a breezy, linear, appreciation of the band’s sunny legacy.
The Complicated Life of Moby Grape’s Skip Spence
This bio about Moby Grape’s Skip Spence dissects and casts a glowing light on his work as a composer of some of the most influential music of San Francisco’s psychedelic scene.
Five Excellent Recent Books Blending Music and Personal Narrative
Music writing often combines the personal, political, and historical in new and inventive ways revealing the interconnectedness of these categories.
Walter Salles’ I’m Still Here Is an Homage to Fearless Women
Masterfully layered and confidently executed, I’m Still Here swivels between intimate family drama and sweeping political thriller in an homage to fearless women.
Unlike Her Music ‘I Am: Céline Dion’ Is Not a Mournful Drama
Unlike how her subject’s music can be, Irene Taylor’s biography I Am: Céline Dion is not a mournful drama. That doesn’t mean it’s easy.
‘Mettlework’ Excavates Myths of American Motherhood
Poet and author Jessica E. Johnson’s memoir Mettlework excavates myths of motherhood and girlhood in mining towns across America.